One way to embed engagement into the culture of your organization is by having reporters weave some engagement tools into their everyday reporting. Giving reporters time to connect with the communities they are covering will enrich their reporting as they will better understand the information needs of that community. This may require reevaluating what’s on a reporter's plate and what can give way for this work.

Community engagement journalism is all about surveys — we use them to get feedback on listening sessions, to find out about our audience, and to learn what kinds of information any given community needs. Those first two surveys are a little easier to do, though. The last one, not so much.

There are dozens of papers and case studies and academic research and tip-sheets all about measuring journalism’s impact and measuring the impact of community engagement. It is an evolving science and impact can be as individual and unique as each station or each project. 

Quality community engagement involves listening and responding to the needs of the community. This kind of meaningful and useful engagement can be immensely attractive to local sponsors – but how do you find those opportunities? We have some tips from WFYI’s sponsorship team that might also work for your station.

Community engagement journalism offers nonprofit media outlets a chance to strengthen their work AND their sustainability. As you work to deepen your reporting practice, don’t forget to invite donors, grantmakers, sponsors and other key stakeholders to learn about how they can be a part of your sustainability.

When the newsroom at WNIN first discussed expanding our coverage to Spanish-speaking communities, the intention was to become a trusted news source for those communities. It’s crucial for your community engagement to get to know the audience you are trying to reach – to understand their needs, their listening habits, and what type of content engages them – before you create the content or start thinking about story ideas.

As many of you have discovered by now, doing real community engagement is a time-consuming task. It is really difficult to be a deadline driven reporter AND build that reporting off of meaningful engagement.

Instagram isn’t just pretty pictures and selfies anymore. People are heading to the platform to get news and information, and to connect with their communities. From infographics, to short videos, to quizzes and polls in the Stories feature, your content can be both informative, engaging, and perfectly aligned with your mission.